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Free Press Advocate

Could Wilmington students do better with a simple change in the school calendar?
Kevin Feeney, the district’s assistant superintendent and director of curriculum, told the Board of Education this month that the preliminary calendar for the next school year has been shared with staff, and should be coming to the board for approval in February. There are few changes from this year’s calendar.

Christmas will be bittersweet at the Brick house, knowing that this will likely be service dog Emma’s last, but that if it weren’t for Emma, Theresa Brick wouldn’t have been here for it at all.
Theresa is calling it her Christmas miracle.
She is certain that Emma, a now 10-year-old great Dane who was her husband Rick’s service dog until the couple retired her, saved her life earlier this month.

Mayor Roy Strong says he’s been told that it’s OK to put up a fence to keep people out of the dam, and once the council creates a restriction, city police can write tickets to anyone caught wading or swimming in the Kankakee River.
Strong has been meeting with state officials to see what can be done to stop people from drowning in the churning waters of the dam — without actually losing the structure.

There’s a reason your mail is coming a little later in the day this month. It’s online shopping.
On the Tuesday after Black Friday, the Wilmington post office delivered a whopping 2,400 packages, in addition to those brightly colored, festive envelopes carrying holiday greetings from friends and loved ones that came with the regular mail. Online shopping has become so popular in fact, that local letter carriers are heading out from the post office twice each day; once loaded with packages, and the second time with regular first class mail.

Wilmington School District 209-U issued a reminder to all parents and students Friday about the importance of regularly discussing safety strategies and appropriate reactions to potentially dangerous situations.
On Thursday evening, a report was filed with the Wilmington Police Department by a middle school-aged student. Dr. Matt Swick, superintendent, said the student reported that a stranger in a silver sedan had attempted to initiate communication as the student was riding a bike through the middle school campus.

A steady wind on Saturday helped a fire take a strong hold on a horse barn in rural Wilmington, and the straw inside ensured there was plenty of fuel for a destructive burn.
“I knew we were in trouble when we pulled out and saw the black header,” commented Chief Tim Zlomie of the Wilmington Fire Protection District.
The fire destroyed the barn in the 20,000 block of North Road in Wesley Township, the northernmost street in Resthaven Subdivision.

Residents of Water’s Edge Estates want to know when the city is going to accept and maintain the infrastructure in the 20-year-old subdivision on the city’s northeast side, and when it’s going to fix a flooding problem coming from the east. City officials say they’re working on it, but aren’t certain the city’s is responsible for everything.

Why Volunteer?
It’s a two-word question that will make you think.
Ask any Christian Help Association volunteer how they got started helping and most will name another volunteer who asked them to join.
Each volunteer has a job to do this time of year. The job does not pay monetarily but it sure does fill the heart.
“We are helping the family down the street or around the corner. We do not know all their names but we know we are helping them have a nicer Christmas season,” they might say.

Fundraiser, other opportunities to donate in the season of giving
There are coat and toy drives, volunteer opportunities, and one of the biggest local fundraisers of the year; all part of the effort of the Kuzma Care Cottage and Christian Help Association to make Christmas seem like Christmas for local families in need.

About the time all of us 9 a.m.-ers got to work Monday morning, contractors were putting a stop line on the southbound Route 53 turn lane to eastbound Coal City Road. By late morning, the intersection’s new traffic signals were active and the Coal City Road railroad crossing was open.
Wilmington Township Highway Commissioner Bill Weidling reported late last week that the Illinois Department of Transportation planned to activate the traffic signals at the Coal City Road intersection Monday at 10 a.m., with the rail crossing opening soon after that.